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Yemen

Opposition leader arrest sparks protest in Yemen

Thousands of people demonstrated in south Yemen on Wednesday, demanding the release of Hassan Baoum, the main leader of the southern opposition in Yemen, witnesses said.

Anti-government protest in the southern Yemeni city of Dhalea November 10, 2010.
Anti-government protest in the southern Yemeni city of Dhalea November 10, 2010. Reuters
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Baoum and his son were part of a group arrested late on Tuesday at an army checkpoint outside the southern town of Daleh, according to a security official.

He said the opposition leader was "planning to hold unauthorised protests in a number of southern provinces".

Baoum heads the supreme council of the Southern Movement whose members want either independence or increased autonomy for the south.

Following a statement released by the Southern Movement calling for protests against Baoum's arrest, thousands of people took to the streets in Daleh, setting tyres on fire.

Many residents of south Yemen, which was independent from 1967 when British colonialists pulled out until it was united with the north in 1990, complain of discrimination by the Sanaa government in the distribution of resources.

The south seceded in 1994, sparking a brief civil war that ended with the region overrun by northern troops.

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